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Germany asks Pakistan to come clean on terror support

New Delhi: Germany Friday asked Pakistan to “come clean” over doubts about its army’s and secret service’s support to terror groups such as Al Qaeda and said Osama bin Laden’s elimination by the US special forces on May 2 was a “heavy moral blow” to the terror outfit.

“After the US operation at Abbottabad, we believe that the Pakistani government must answer questions about the support meant for bin Laden. It is important that the Pakistani government comes clean on in order to dispel doubts about possible role of Pakistani army and its secret services in support bin Laden and other terrorist outfits,” German Ambassador to India Thomas Matussek told reporters here, according to IANS.

“The fact that bin Laden is not around anymore must be a heavy moral blow to al Qaeda. It is a good news in the global fight against terror,” Matussek said at a press conference ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to India on a visit May 31-June 1.

He said Germany believed al Qaeda was “weakened” by the death of bin Laden. “But there still remains serious threat,” he said.

However, he reminded that Pakistan too was “a victim of terror”, as the recent strike by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan at the Mehran naval air base near Karachi had shown.

“Pakistan has launched a substantial military operation against the Taliban in the last month and we want Pakistan to sustain this effort,” he added.

On Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s commitment to carry forward the dialogue process with Paksitan, Matussek said Germany fully support his assessment that there is no alternative to dialogue.